It was dark days, the world had never been so brutal and lives had never been thrown away so much. But one day was the worst, one day would change everything.

The two greatest enemies the world had ever known find themselves sitting in adjacent prison cells.

Crest Arlington is viciously charismatic, wealthier than most small nations and self-proclaimed as the smartest man in the world. Our hero is bullet proof, he can fly and can literally rip a hole through a mountain without breaking a sweat.

One is the Earth’s mightiest super hero and the other (allegedly) the most dastardly of villains.

And the twisted and cruel creature that is fate has placed on death row not the man responsible for the pain and death of thousands, but the one responsible for saving the lives of millions.

Our story starts with less than eight hours on the clock and of course not all is as it seems, as the villain is determined to stop the execution…

Pre-production didn't really happen. One of my most important strategies for making this movie happen was using college students as the bulk of the cast. With that in mind, I felt like I needed to shoot during Summer break. Problem was -- my script wasn't ready; I finished the 2nd draft the night before we began shooting!

That being the case, time that should've been spent in pre-production was eaten up by screenwriting. In fact, that's lesson #1 that I learned from this experience -- leave all the time in the world to allow the screenplay to properly develop, and go through all the necessary revisions.

The one advantage to being an ultra-low-budget filmmaker is the efficiency of it all. Pretty much everything in this movie was locked up inside my head. Long before we began shooting, I had specific shots in mind, as well as the general shooting style that I wanted to use for the entire movie. So, in a sense, I sort of had pre-production in my head, at least as far as shot-selection was concerned.

The business-end stuff, though -- location scouting, and whatever -- it never happened. This was about as run-and-gun of a production as is possible. We basically shot twenty 48 Hour Film Project films, consecutively. It was nuts. But we had a ridiculous amount of fun, and I actually think we got some really good stuff.

We shot for 20 days (actually, 19 full days and 2 half days), over the course of 4 weeks.

It's also difficult to answer how long post-production lasted. This is actually the first time for me to publicly admit this, but for many months I did nothing. And I mean nothing. When production wrapped, my bank account was overdraft by a few hundred dollars, I hadn't paid any of my bills in over a month, and it would be a few weeks before I'd begin getting a steady stream of income from work. At the time, my computer was not up to the task of editing a feature, and it would be a couple months before I was in a financial situation in which I could make the necessary upgrades.

When I finally got the equipment upgrade, I immediately edited the first ten minutes of the movie. Then, I fell into a deep depression. In the first ten minutes of the movie, there is a GIANT continuity error that really bugged me. Ironically, not one person has noticed it (or, at least mentioned it). Also, there is a scene in the first ten minutes that required 100% ADR, something that I'm not good at. The combination of those two faults, in addition to general artist-self-doubt, got me feeling very down, and it was months before I finally got back to editing. When I did finally resume editing, I had a rough cut done in less than a week, and the final cut a few months later.

Do you see distribution in your future or have you been distro'd?

Realistically, probably not, but maybe we can work out some form of tiny distribution. It'd be nice for people to be able to see this movie. The festival run is basically over, but there's still one local one that I'm waiting on, then I'll start working on getting it out to the general public.

To be frank, I really don't care about financial gain with this movie, because it wasn't made with profit in mind (at least not as the primary goal). I definitely had dreams and aspirations of distribution, but the primary goal was always just to use this feature as a tool for getting funding for the next feature. To that end, it seems like most people make short films, and spend a great deal of energy on production value. I decided, up-front, that my strategy would be to flip the bird to production value, and just do my best to make a feature film with the best storytelling that I could muster.

What's the back-up plan?

Back-up plan if distribution doesn't happen? There isn't one. The plan is to get the next feature made, and I'm glad to say that the wheels are rolling. Slowly, but they're definitely rolling. So, to that end, this 1st feature has definitely served it's purpose.

I change it all the time to reflect the audience I'm trying to get. Film reviewers actually come up with the best ones. This log line gets the most attention/orders: "A transgender deaf girl is stalked."

Where's the trailer, facebook page, website?

Yo, check the bottom of this post.

Is it complete or being completed?

Done.

How long were you in production (from pre-to-post)?

5 years, including about 2 years in post.

Do you see distribution in your future or have you been distro'd?

Currently on the film festival circuit. Sold loads of "pre-official release" DVDs via website, social media and in-person hawking! 2012 will see the "official" DVD release & paid downloads.

I change it all the time to reflect the audience I'm trying to get. Film reviewers actually come up with the best ones. This log line gets the most attention/orders: "A transgender deaf girl is stalked."

Where's the trailer, facebook page, website?

Yo, check the bottom of this post.

Is it complete or being completed?

Done.

How long were you in production (from pre-to-post)?

5 years, including about 2 years in post.

Do you see distribution in your future or have you been distro'd?

Currently on the film festival circuit. Sold loads of "pre-official release" DVDs via website, social media and in-person hawking! 2012 will see the "official" DVD release & paid downloads.

What's the back-up plan?

Arm twisting & waterboarding.

Curious, and by all means feel no need to reply, but in terms of "Sold loads of "pre-official release" DVDs via website, social media and in-person hawking!"

Curious, and by all means feel no need to reply, but in terms of "Sold loads of "pre-official release" DVDs via website, social media and in-person hawking!"

How many is loads? 20 dvds? 200 dvds?

Funny though, I've been pushing the social media angle in a number of threads, leaving the door wide open for this line of discussion. I'm just wondering why very few seem to taking advantage of this. It's a full throttle marketing effort -- blog, website and social media. Right now the blog generates the most traffic. Ballpark figure -- I estimate some 500 DVDs are floating around out there -- maybe half were sold. For $9 each. The "official" DVD will have extras. The film is NOT available for downloading because it will preclude the film from being shown in festivals.

Directed by Christopher Philip Rusin with costume and set designs by Reuben
Godinez, Fell is a beautifully filmed vignette that inexorably draws you into the unique, dark, and mysterious world of one woman’s unusual path to self-realization.

Leah, an abused young woman haunted by memories of her deceased alcoholic father and smothered by an ill and indifferent mother, struggles to overcome her demons and discover her freedom in an unexpected way. Holding out for promise as a successful fashion designer, Leah works through her isolation and social ineptness by meeting men in the most common of places. Each encounter leads to a tragic ending that propels her forward into an eerie and menacing world of self-empowerment fed by violence. “This one is worth checking out...” - Quiet Earth

Completed. On shrink-wrapped DVD and for sale. Except for the score and the ending credit music, we did everything else in-house, all editing and audio mixing, and the DVD artwork and contents (less replication.) An enormous project in all and worth every moment. Never to be edited again.

Summer 2010, Fell premiered at the "Another Hole in the Head" Film Festival in San Francisco, two sold out viewings. Not the right genre for Fell but they requested the movie, so we said yes.

Yes to the former. We’ve not found the right channel yet. With the right partner, Fell should do OK in the US with targeted distribution (“ok” would be 10,000+ copies), and ought to do very well in the international market. Like most others, we did not line up distribution first - a rookie mistake -that’s OK because we still did what we wanted to do: make a feature film. And we learned a lot... We just released the DVD to the marketplace ourselves. We will add subtitles when we secure international distribution.

What's the back-up plan?

Punt?

We’re in pre-production on our next feature, and currently developing two other stories for the future.

LOGLINE: Two brothers battle each other for control of their recently deceased mother’s estate.

SYNOPSIS: Two adult twin brothers, JACK and JAKE DORSETT, who never left home, find the hostility between them growing after their controlling mother has passed away. As twins, they are identical in physical appearance, yet polar opposites in temperament - Jack is quiet, conservative and socially awkward, whereas Jake is outgoing, aggressive and a little dangerous.

Jack is forced to face his long-buried childhood demons when he is bullied by his brother into producing the documents which prove Jack’s legal right as executor. Worse than that, he is confronted with a new revelation. One which has him questioning his own sanity and sense of self.

In a quest for answers, Jack leaves his comfortable existence as a shut-in and secretly follows Jake into town, Tiburon. Here he is perplexed to find that the insensitive and brutish Jake is seeing a psychiatrist, DR. ELIZABETH “BETH” RICHMOND. Jack soon learns that Jake not only has been playing himself off as the abused brother, and exploiting the doctor for her sympathy and possible legal assistance in his pursuit of Jack’s executorship, but has also seduced her into a physical relationship.

Finding himself smitten with Beth, Jack must find a way to rescue her from Jake’s manipulation, and save himself from the destructive presence of his brother in his own life.

I wrote the script for “Tiburon” knowing that I would fly solo on the production of this project - writing, directing, acting, shooting, editing and everything in between. I was blessed with the generosity of a composer and sound designer that liked the rough cut so much that they donated their skills and talent to making it so much better of a film than I could have hoped.

Do you see distribution in your future or have you been distro'd?

Recently, “Tiburon” was fortunate enough to attract an established Producer’s Rep.

What's the back-up plan?

I never expected distribution for “Tiburon” - as this was a no-budget, solo-crewed film with no name actors or director, so if it does get distrobution I’ll be tickled pink, but otherwise I plan to continue forward with other works...

- Storyboarding a short for shooting at the end of this month.

- I am working on a new feature script and plan to shoot it as
another no-budget feature this Summer.

Now THAT is awesome. Looks like someone got something out of this thread.

I do what I can to help support other indie filmmakers.

I own most of the Mike Conway collection (the original Terrarium 2-disc set, War of the Planets, The Awakening, and Exile), "Crushed", "I, Creator" (the only one I regret purchasing), and... ah... darn it, I can't remember the name! Some slice-of-life drama that was pretty good.